JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – If you need some extra money this holiday season, it might be easier than you think.
GetUpside is a free app that literally pays users to fill up their vehicles with gas. It’s really as simple as that.
It’s hard not to be skeptical, but it turns out you can make some serious cash.
GetUpside app user Taylor Alden said he has made “well over $2,000” in just over a year.
Here’s how GetUpside works:
- A user will sign up for the app.
- Then, using a phone’s location, the app will show offers from gas stations around them, offering savings.
“Our goal is to help communities thrive by helping merchants be more successful in their day-to-day businesses, as well as helping consumers earn cash back and making their money go further," said GetUpside Chief Operating Officer Wayne Lin.
Lin is one of the app’s co-founders.
“The idea behind it came from my co-founder and I. We both worked at Google 15 years ago and we saw the power of online advertising and personalization and using data to give great experiences online,” Lin said.
GetUpside makes money by being a marketing tool for businesses. The businesses are the ones giving a user that savings and then paying GetUpside for being the middleman.
“The business is funding the rewards and offers that you get as a consumer. The cash back you get comes from the business in exchange for them choosing you over someone else. And then, for GetUpside, we make money when we help get connections,” Lin said.
Another way many free apps make money is by selling a user’s personal information. Lin said the GetUpside app does not do that.
“We don’t ask for your phone numbers. We don’t ask for your mailing address. We don’t really ask for anything," Lin said. “Other than that, what we use is your anonymized transaction history. So once you’re using the app, the gas stations your working with we’ll go, ‘We understand you come here roughly once a month. I would love for you to come twice a month.’ But that’s basically anonymous. It’s not like it’s I, Wayne Lin, am coming once a month. It’s I, some GetUpside user, comes once a month. If you give me a great offer, I’ll come twice a month.”
The only personal information a user will need to give up is when an account is created. The user can either log in through Facebook or with an email address. And that’s it. The only thing left to do is start saving money.
Alden said it is the easiest money he’s ever made.
“Oh definitely,” he said. “It really changes everything in our life.”
If you are concerned about your privacy, use an email address instead of using Facebook. That way you can’t give the app any more information than you want it to have.